Mr Asia Suhas Khamkar arrested for taking bribe

Suhas Khamkar, naib tehsildar and the winner of Mr Asia, Mr India and Maharashtra Shree, was nabbed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau for accepting Rs 50,000

A four-time Mr India winner, bodybuilder Suhas Madhukar Khamkar, has been arrested by the Panvel’s unit of the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 50,000.

Kolhapur-based Khamkar has represented the country in many bodybuilding competitions and won championships like Mr Asia, Mr India and Maharashtra Shree. He worked as ‘naib tehsildar’ at the collector’s office in Panvel. Earlier, Khamkar also worked at Central Railway as a ticket collector and won the Railway Bodybuilding Competition five times.

Suhas Khamkar had earlier demanded Rs 60,000 to 'get the work done faster', but ACB asked the complainant to negotiate and fix the amount at Rs 50,000

The complainant had approached the tehsildar on June 30, on behalf of the owner of a plot in Panvel who wanted to sell it. The owner wanted the ‘7/12 extract’ from the land register, which is maintained by the revenue department of the government and has details like the name of the owner of the land and its cultivator, the area of the land, the type of cultivation, etc.

After the complainant was asked to meet Khamkar, he told him to meet his ‘aide’, one Ganesh Navnath Bhogade, and pay him Rs 60,000 as bribe to get his work done faster. The person, not willing to pay the bribe, approached the ACB and the team asked him to negotiate the amount to Rs 50,000.

“On Monday, around 4 pm, the complainant went to Khamkar’s office and gave Rs 50,000 to Bhogade. The ACB team caught them red-handed in the act,” said an ACB official from the Panvel unit. The duo will be produced in court today and the ACB is likely to carry out house raids as well.